Teaching Foreign Languages K–12

A Library of Classroom Practices

World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages
The following is a description of each of the Five Cs goal areas and its related Standards. For a brief history of the Standards, go to About the Library.

Communication: Communicate effectively in more than one language in order to function in a variety of situations and for multiple purposes

Interpersonal Communication
Learners interact and negotiate meaning in spoken, signed, or written conversations to share information, reactions, feelings, and opinions.

Interpretive Communication
Learners understand, interpret, and analyze what is heard, read, or viewed on a variety of topics.

Presentational Communication
Learners present information, concepts, and ideas to inform, explain, persuade, and narrate on a variety of topics using appropriate media and adapting to various audiences of listeners, readers, or viewers.

Cultures: Interact with cultural competence and understanding

Relating Cultural Practices to Perspectives
Learners use the language to investigate, explain, and reflect on the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the cultures studied.

Relating Cultural Products to Perspectives
Learners use the language to investigate, explain, and reflect on the relationship between the products and perspectives of the cultures studied.

Connections: Connect with other disciplines and acquire information and diverse perspectives in order to use the language to function in academic and career-related situations

Making Connections
Learners build, reinforce, and expand their knowledge of other disciplines while using the language to develop critical thinking and to solve problems creatively.

Acquiring Information and Diverse Perspectives
Learners access and evaluate information and diverse perspectives that are available through the language and its cultures.

Comparisons: Develop insight into the nature of language and culture in order to interact with cultural competence

Language Comparisons
Learners use the language to investigate, explain, and reflect on the nature of language through comparisons of the language studied and their own.

Cultural Comparisons
Learners use the language to investigate, explain, and reflect on the concept of culture through comparisons of the cultures studied and their own.

Communities: Communicate and interact with cultural competence in order to participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world

School and Global Communities
Learners use the language both within and beyond the classroom to interact and collaborate in their community and the globalized world.

Lifelong Learning
Learners set goals and reflect on their progress in using languages for enjoyment, enrichment, and advancement.